If you’ve decided to tackle the Kruger Park on your own - a decidedly do-able proposition (see SA Logue’s Make Your Own Way to Kruger for more) - then ensure your do-it-yourself-safari ends at Kruger’s Phalaborwa gate (closest camp: Letaba), so you don’t miss the Blyde River Canyon on the drive back to Joburg.
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Blyde River
The canyon is one of Africa’s largest - and has to be one of the world’s most spectacular. Its highlight is the view of the Three Rondavels - outcroppings of rock that look like giant sculptures of African huts. It’s flat-out gorgeous. (Sorry for that.)
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Grahamstown’s National Arts Festival hits full stride this week - it’s South Africa’s biggest theatre, dance and music extravaganza, which literally takes over the otherwise sleepy little village, and offers endless chances for arts lovers to see what the arts in South Africa are all about.
Gotta get to Grahamstown, in other words! Here’s how:
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Alert! The City of Cape Town, under new management (see: 2006 Local Government Elections), is considering a ban on car guards, those mostly-friendly fellows who spot vacant parking bays and guide all-vehicles-great-and-small into them, then look after the cars in exchange for a tip.
Normal car guard tip: R2-R5. Do tip!
In Your Correspondent’s opinion, the city’s move amounts to a return to Medieval feudalism. OK, perhaps it’s not that drastic - and, OK, Africa never had a Medieval period - but one finds it difficult to imagine what purpose a ban would serve, other than the dilution of policing …
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SA Blog’s handy guide to the Polokwane International Airport.
Vital information:
Airport code: PTGStreet Map: Click hereFloor plan: None available, nor needed.General info: +27 (0) 15 288 0122Flight info: +27 (0) 15 288 0164Website: Click here. (So laughable, I’m not sure whether it’s official - but there don’t seem to be any others.)Hired/Rented cars: Kiosks inside the arrivals area.Wifi? No.Former & alt. names: Pietersburg/Gateway International Airport, Lughawe (Afrikaans for “Airport”).Free carts? YesPorters? Available.Porter tip? R5 per bag.Curbside drop-off/pick-up allowed? Yes.Parking? About R2/hour, depending on length of stay. Long-term parking available.Disabled-friendly? Not particularly.
Bequeathing the term “international” to Polokwane’s tiny airfield is a touch delusional - but because the runway’s a local hub for private flights to and from Zimbabwe and Botswana, it’s snapped the status right up. For those without their own planes, SA Airlink is the one and only “major” carrier that flies there, arriving and departing at least once a day.
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SA Blog is touring South Africa on the Baz Bus, following the adventures of intrepid Baz Blogger Kathy - a.k.a. “Trekker”.
Greetings and salutations all fellow travelers! Hope you are all on fantastic trips and awesome adventures.
This is going to be the last (sniff!) of the Baz Blog series - but never fear, any questions you might have can be posted here as comments (or anywhere, really), and Ben or I will get back to you.
In this post we revisit Baz Bus basics and take a second look at the options for backpacking travel in SA. But first, a links summary of my coverage of the complete Baz Bus route:
Leg One (Cape Town, Garden Route, and part of the Eastern Cape)Leg Two (the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast and Durban)Leg Three (”the Loop”: Durban to Joburg and back, via the Drakensberg, the Kruger Park, Swaziland and the game reserves of KwaZulu Natal)See Baz Bus route map | Book Baz Bus ticketComplete Baz Bus coverage on SA BlogFind a backpackers/hostel in South Africa
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Now that the terrible two-headed monster, Brangelina, has finished spawning and finally migrated back to its home territory - incredible, the lengths to which these things will go just to breed, rather like the penguins of the Antarctic - Namibia is once again safe for normal tourists, and there are some great ways to get there from Cape Town.
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Judith asks, is it OK for three women to take two children to the Kruger National Park by themselves, as it were? (That is, can they self-drive to Kruger, and self-guide during the Kruger experience?)
The simple answer to your question, Judith, is yes! The drive from Joburg to Kruger is easy, about 5 hours (though the sexist in me would put it closer to seven, with three women and two children in the car!) and a straight shot on the very well-maintained N4 toll road.
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You won’t find these suggestions in any guide that I know of, but make sure to include them in your plans.
Bo-Kaap Pakistani Chicken. There is a secret archipelago of Pakistani barbecues all over Cape Town and its suburbs - sort of like an unbranded franchise - but only one in the city centre. Brothers Irfan Muhammed and Ahmed Arshad set up their booth at the corner of Wale and Rose Streets (diagonally across from the Bo-Kaap museum, which you will find in all the guide books) in 2001. Apart from the incredibly tasty chicken - just like the street food in their native Lahore, they say - the best part about the operation is the hours it keeps: 11am to 10pm most days, and even later on Fridays and Saturdays.
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SA Blog has seen the future - or rather, has been driven around while listening to it. In a world first on the technology front, Tourism Radio has been launched in Cape Town, a GPS-driven radio station that provides tourists with literally on-the-spot info about where they are and what to see nearby.
GPS Radio
(GPS, for those who don’t know, stands for “Global Positioning System”. It’s technology that allows satellites to track Earth-bound objects, like cars, with incredible accuracy.)
How does Tourism Radio work? First, you rent a car with the special GPS device that allows the radio to “tune in” to the various satellites spinning overhead. Fortunately, this is easy: Budget, National, Alamo, Scenic and Sixt all provide GPS-equipped cars (and at a cost of only R10-R15 more per day than a car without GPS).
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SA Blog is touring South Africa on the Baz Bus, following the adventures of intrepid Baz Blogger Kathy - a.k.a. “Trekker”.
Smitswinkel Bay
Now that you have toured along with me on the entire Baz Bus route (Leg One | Leg Two | Leg Three), it is time to head back to Cape Town and take the Baz Bus Cape Peninsula Tour, the best of its kind.
Peninsula Tour Essential Info
Cost: R350 per person
Discount: R30 off the tour with any Baz Bus tour over R500
Penguin Sighting
Duration: Full Day Tour (8am – 5pm)
Runs: Daily except Mondays.
Includes: Light breakfast, scrumptious lunch, South African tour guide, bicycles, all entrance fees.
See Baz Bus route map | Book Baz Bus ticket
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